Mojave Desert Blog

The California Energy Commission (CEC) announced that it will hold an evidentiary hearings for the proposed Calicor Solar power project on 4 August beginning at 12 noon.  The hearings may extend into 5 and 6 August, as well.  The hearings will be held in Barstow -- details copied at the bottom of this post below.   You can also find the details at the CEC Calico Solar site here . As noted in previous posts on the Calico Solar power project, the impact of the project on wildlife in the Mojave Desert will be significant.  The site is home to dozens of desert tortoises, Mojave fringe-toed lizard, and foraging habitat for bighorn sheep.  Information for the evidentiary hearings: Wednesday, August 4, 2010, 12:00 noon, and continuing into the evening hours, if necessary. and on Thursday, August 5 and Friday, August 6, 2010, beginning each day at 9 a.m. Location: Hampton Inn & Suites Barstow 2710 Lenwood Road Barstow, CA 92311

I keep coming back to the prognosis for the passage of the California Desert Protection Act of 2010 (CDPA 2010, or S.2921) because even if I am pessimistic about its chances, I know Washington is an unpredictable arena where one has to keep an eye open for opportunities.  Part of me believes CDPA 2010 is unlikely to be considered by Congress this year.  As I've noted in previous posts , Senator Feinstein's proposed CDPA 2010 is still stuck in the Senate Committee for Energy and Natural Resources, and Congress has plenty of business to consider in a relatively short amount of time, meaning that the bill faces an uphill battle. However, there may be a fleeting window for the Senator's office to establish the two national monuments and host of other off-road recreation and wilderness designations included in CDPA 2010 by including her language in legislation that is more likely to be considered before the full Congress before the end of the year.  It appears that Congres...

You heard it here already -- the California Desert Protection Act of 2010 (CDPA 2010, or S. 2921) was going to face a lot of hurdles this year, and its chances of making it out of the Senate Committee for Energy and Natural Resources were slim.  However, I found it frustrating to read today that the Senate Committee delivered 18 bills and may deliver another 11 before the Senate recess in August.  CDPA 2010 was not among this list of bills for delivery.  Given the broad support that CDPA 2010 receives from communities, recreation enthusiasts and even energy companies, it was still surprising that CDPA 2010 was not included on the Senate Committee's list of business before August recess.   After Congress resumes business in September, there will not be much time left to conduct legislative business, further reducing the chances that CDPA 2010 will be passed this year. Meanwhile, the Governor of California mocked the need to protect threatened and endangered sp...

I'm reading Mitch Tobin's Endangered: Biodiversity on the Brink , and so far I am definitely enjoying the book and learning a lot.  One quote that Tobin uses is attributed to Aldo Leopold, who made a statement that should give us pause in our feverish efforts to change and fragment our final remaining wilderness: "The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not.  If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering." This quote reminded me of criticisms by proponents of increased industrialization and urbanization of open spaces in the Mojave Desert, arguing that the desert tortoise, Mohave ground squirrel, or Mojave milkweed do not deserve to be g...

In the California Energy Commission's (CEC) first decision among several proposed solar projects under consideration, Beacon Solar was given approval to operate on a portion of former agricultural land near California City, located in the West Mojave Desert.  The Beacon Solar proposal came under scrutiny because it will not use dry-cooling technology, which means it will use 1,400 acre-feet of water per year to cool down the fluid heated by the solar array to produce energy.  That amounts to approximately 456 million gallons of water a year in a State that is historically pushing the limits of its water supply and demand curve, and its not clear that recycled water is a condition of Beacon Solar's certification. One of the conditions of certification upheld in the presiding member's proposed decision (subject to a 30-day comment period now) includes a number of rules governing Beacon Solar's use of water, to include mandating netting over its evaporation ponds (which...

The Kelso Depot in the Mojave National Preserve is hosting a photo exhibit featuring pictures taken by high school students of desert tortoises in the Mojave.  The exhibit runs from early May until 7 August, so you still have a couple of weeks left to check it out. Info: Tortoises Through the Lens:  A Conservation Exhibition by Mojave Desert Students May 2 - August 7, 2010 Kelso Depot Visitor Center, Mojave National Preserve

Joshua Tree woodland in the Mojave National Preserve